Susan Eleeson PhD Telehealth Psychologist

12/19/2022

This is my new love language….airless paint spraying for my daughters new kennel expansion. I hear about someones “love language” a lot in counseling. As a scientist/practitioner I ask myself a number of questions. What are the credentials of the person proposing this framework and does he have any evidence to support it is helpful? I am not a religious scholar but I think “love is action” covers it. As Bell Hooks describes love is when you put the other person first-emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually etc. In other words multilingual. Give those you love a 5:1 ratio of actions and affection to make them feel special as Dr John Gottman has proven with clinical and research by a team. Tens of thousands of actual couples have proven it.

12/01/2022

Pedro perfectly illustrates the stance of most people thinking about doing counseling. He is smart and he knows there is a lot of manure to face. It isn’t going to go away and actually the manure is only going to get deeper. He is mad because it isn’t all his manure and it isn’t fair that others manure affects him yet alone they won’t change. He is feeling little and he is afraid but he decides to be brave and take it on!

11/20/2022

I am the 5th generation on this land. My great grandmother Elizabeth Duncan married Olaf Eleeson until generations later I purchased it. Lizzie was known to speak her mind with a bit of a screech to it. And one day she said “ no rocks would be removed from this land.” After all they came from Scotland. Because she said “someone might want to build a house on it someday!” She was thinking of the big picture and spoke up. Your voice is important now because some one 120 years later will be glad you did. Be strong, be direct.

11/13/2022

This little rock may be hard but it’s message was one of the sweetest and more tender ones I have ever received. While I was an embedded psychologist in the Sanford Cancer I was asked to help a man with pancreatic cancer. He liked to wear plaid shirts and down vests spending time on the weekends using his ATV or snowmobile. He shared with me how his stepmother used to beat him with a coffee pot cord and his wife was also physically abusing him. The three of us had a discussion about the power I have to initiate legal action to stop the abuse. He noticed I had oval, smooth rocks from Iceland stacked on my windowsill. The next time he came in he described going too fast on his snowmobile and got dumped. What he was so excited about was seeing this rock in the snow. “I noticed you like rocks and it looks like a heart so I wanted you to have it.” This was over 10 years ago. Everyone needs to treat you with respect and if they aren’t I am here to help.

11/11/2022

Depression and anxiety take control of what a person can see and feel. Life is seen through a magnified and rigid view of the world. Counseling helps you see the big picture with accuracy. Call for an appointment so you can see what the world has to offer.

11/08/2022

Which shells hold your intrigue longer? So often woman are referred or thought of as “damaged.” Or after cancer are “survivors.” Trauma, assault or medical nightmares reveal who we are and a core of a grace in the face of adversity.

11/07/2022

Almost everyone who comes to see me says they are “stuck.” Counseling is about seeing new possibilities. “When pigs fly” highlights no options. I have seen pigs fly!

11/06/2022

10/24/2022

Ella says “health and safety are not negotiable!” Most straightforward decision in parenting.

Susan K. Eleeson Inc. Licensed psychologist Sioux Falls South Dakota Private Practice